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Cliff Richard's lawyers accuse MPs of damaging singer

Sir Cliff Richard's lawyers have written to Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz MP accusing the committee of causing the singer "a further round of unnecessary and extremely damaging media coverage with no due process" by publishing a letter about the South Yorkshire Police sex abuse investigation earlier this week.

Cliff Richards lawyers: MPs 'enabled media coverage'

Lawyers representing Sir Cliff Richard have accused MPs of damaging the singer by releasing a letter from South Yorkshire Police to the media.

The letter, released earlier this week, said the police investigation had "increased significantly in size" and contained "more than one allegation". Sir Richard's lawyers complain the letter did not need to be published, and its publication "encouraged widespread publicity".

As a direct result of the decision of the committee to publish the SYP letter, and to proactively send it to media organisations, our client has been exposed to a further round of unnecessary and extremely damaging media coverage, with no due process.

Our client had no opportunity to comment or make submissions to the committee in advance of publication, but had he been able to do so, the damage that has since been caused by the Committee's actions and by the SYP letter would, most likely, have been avoided.

It is the committee who have acted as enablers to the media so that they could report on claims of new allegations about which our client has been given no or very little information; about which he has yet to be questioned; for which he has not been arrested; and of course, over which he has not been charged.

The committee have, through their actions, facilitated coverage which would not have otherwise occurred.

– Gideon Benaim, of Michael Simkins LLP

Sir Cliff has previously said the claims against him were "absurd and untrue" and he had "never, in my life, assaulted anyone."

He was interviewed under caution last year by detectives investigating a sex crime involving a young boy in the 1980s, but was not arrested or charged.